In October 2018, Pioneer acquired UK energy platform Brockwell Energy Limited from Hargreaves Services plc. Brockwell has a range of Energy-from-Waste and onshore wind projects in Scotland with a potential capital requirement of £800 million. Pioneer acquired Brockwell in partnership with global investment firm Davidson Kempner. The Energy-From-Waste sector in the UK is a high priority focus for Pioneer. With the reduction or elimination of landfill, uncertainty over the c3.5m tonnes of waste exported to Europe and pressures on recycling, there is a strong structural need for new, high efficiency plants. Brockwell was identified as the ideal platform through which to pursue this strategy given its existing projects and experienced management team. The Brockwell CEO, energy industry veteran Alex Lambie has been known to Pioneer for a decade.

In November 2017, Pioneer signed an agreement to acquire via privatisation the largest producer of biogas in Denmark, Nature Energy, which produces green gas that is injected directly to the European grid from farm and food waste. The company has 5 large scale operational plants, 2 in construction, and a strong pipeline of new projects. When the 7 plants are fully operational, the company will produce c. 100 million m3 of green gas per annum. Nature Energy is the European leader in the emerging green gas to grid sector, and sits at the intersection of green energy production, the circular economy in waste management, and sustainable farming. Green gas injected into the European gas grid can be stored, which is critical to driving more renewable energy because it balances intermittent power sources such as wind and solar. Green gas also provides a direct path to green transport and heating using existing distribution infrastructure.

Nature Energy was acquired by Pioneer in a consortium comprising of global investment firm Davidson Kempner and leading Danish pension fund Sampension.

In December 2017, Pioneer founded the German flexible power generation platform Flexgen. Flexgen intends to construct, own and operate a number of flexible power plants in Germany that provide backup, balancing and ancillary services to the grid operators. With the highest renewables deployment in Europe and the phase out of nuclear, Germany is in increasing need of flexible power solutions. Flexgen’s first project is 300MW. Flexgen was founded with a senior German energy executive and leverages off prior Pioneer expertise across the investments in PeakGen and Ignis.

Sistema Rinnovabili

In 2018, Pioneer launched Sistema Rinnovabili to consolidate the Italian solar photovoltaic market by acquiring, optimising and operating small to medium-sized, ground-mounted solar photovoltaic plants. The Company also plans to target other emerging areas of the renewable market including large-scale grid parity projects and other advanced forms of renewable generation.

Sistema Rinnovabili is led by a team of sector veterans with a combined 30-year experience, having managed more than 1GW+ of solar capacity across Europe.

Sistema Rinnovabili is in the process of acquiring a 20MW portoflio and plans to grow its asset base to 100MW over the next few years.

Ignis

In March 2016, Pioneer alongside a Spanish management team and local investors invested in Ignis to enable it to acquire a 285MW operational combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) plant in Escatron, Zaragoza. This plant is one of the most flexible peaking power plants in Spain and offers essential regulated ancillary and balancing services to the Spanish grid operator supporting intermittent wind, solar and other renewable power sources. The company employs c. 100 people and also manages third party Combined Heat and Power plants (CHP) in Spain with c.500MW of total assets under management. Ignis is developing a 850 MW solar PV project in Spain, which will be the largest in Europe using its existing grid connection and site in Zaragoza.

In November 2013, Pioneer formed a partnership with global investment management firm York Capital Management to finance the construction of solar energy farms in the UK. Primrose’s business plan was to build, own and operate a portfolio of 200-300 MW of solar projects in the UK.

Primrose completed its construction programme in June 2016 with the energisation of the 49 MW Eveley Farm project, which brought the portfolio to a total of 253 MW of operational solar farms.

Primrose successfully sold the portfolio in three transactions in 2016: 95 MW to the Bluefield Solar Income Fund in January, 78 MW to Greencoat Solar I LP in November, and the final 80 MW to Equitix in December.

AigŁes Ter Llobregat

In December 2012, a consortium including Acciona, Pioneer and several Spanish family offices was awarded a 50-year, €1 billion concession to operate the wholesale B2B water network of Barcelona and surrounding areas. ATLL collects, treats, and distributes water to 116 local water companies serving 5m inhabitants and businesses in Europe’s 4th largest urban region.

In May 2011 Pioneer acquired Masotina Spa, a leading northern Italian waste recycling company. Pioneer and existing management have bought out Masotina’s family owners and Pioneer has committed significant further funding for the acquisition of identified targets and capex to promote aggressive organic growth. Founded in 1937, Masotina Spa is a Milan-based provider of waste recycling services nationwide and operates two recycling facilities.

In August 2010 Pioneer invested in Peak Gen Power to build, own and operate distributed and flexible power plants in the UK. Between August 2010 and March 2016 Peak Gen grew from zero to 300 MW of plants contracted or operational, with plans to grow to 500 MW.

In March 2016 Pioneer sold its interest in Peak Gen back to the family office that financed the investment.